Prefabs sprout: could factory-built homes tackle the housing crisis?

Long regarded as a relic of the past, prefabricated housing is now emerging as a potential solution for the UK’s chronic shortage of affordable homes. Britain’s golden age of prefabricated housing happened after World War II, when the government authorised thousands of factory-built homes to replace housing destroyed by bombing raids. Intended to last for […]

Support for the squeezed middle: could public subsidies tackle London’s housing crisis?

A new report from the Centre for London has highlighted the potential of intermediate housing in supporting Londoners on middle incomes. The report – Fair to Middling – argues that not only could publicly-subsidised housing help those on modest incomes in London find better places to live, but could play a vital role in ensuring […]

Can Housing Zones help the housing crisis?

By James Carson The UK government believes that brownfield land has a crucial role in meeting the need for new homes. But development of brownfield sites has often been held back because of the need for high upfront capital and delays in obtaining planning permission. Last year, a new programme of Housing Zones (HZs) was […]

Budget 2015 – how does it tackle the housing crisis?

By Alan Gillies 1p off a pint of beer, 2p off cider and whisky, wine duty frozen… “a beer-soaked election budget”, according to the International Business Times. But of course there’s more to the Budget than tax cuts, even in the last Budget before the General Election. One of the most pressing concerns of many […]

A local crisis? Local authorities and the housing crisis

By Alex Addyman England needs to provide between 200,000 and 250,000 homes each year to meet the current housing shortage. The role of local authorities in meeting this shortfall was recognised in the Autumn Statement and has been progressed through some recent policy initiatives. This blog considers some of these initiatives and questions whether local […]

New life for old homes: the potential of retrofitting social housing

by Ian Babelon How can social housing retrofits help tackle the cost-of-living and climate crises that are currently exercising the minds of landlords, householders, tenants and governments? In this, blog post, Ian Babelon looks at the potential of retrofits for making homes more energy efficient and for futureproofing the built environment. The benefits and costs […]

Co-housing: the promises and the pitfalls

Over the past two years, the coronavirus pandemic and the cost of living crisis have eclipsed the UK’s chronic housing shortage. But the housing challenges of 2019 are still with us in 2022, and in many ways they have worsened. According to the housing charity Shelter, over 17 million people are living in overcrowded, dangerous, […]

Building sights: how offsite construction could help solve the housing shortage

Long waiting lists, high rents, thousands sleeping rough, millions living in insecure or unsuitable homes and a generation of young people priced out of the market: these are the hallmarks of the UK’s broken housing system. In England, the government is committed to building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. But in 2019, […]

Guest post: Stories from lockdown – interviews show how poor housing quality made life even more tough

Philip Brown, University of Huddersfield Life during COVID-19 has not been a uniform experience. There have been distinct differences in how people have contended with lockdown, depending on whether they have access to safe, secure and decent accommodation. New research from the University of Huddersfield has looked at how people were coping while living with […]

Digital Housing Week: How coronavirus is affecting housing

Throughout this week, Inside Housing magazine has been providing a series of webinars offering debate, learning and innovative thinking on how housing providers are responding to present-day challenges and preparing for future demands. One of the webinars focused on the ways in which Covid-19 has accelerated the move to agile working for housing associations (HAs) […]